Happy Batman Day! We hear some of you may be excited about the latest take on DC’s Dark Knight. Apart from all the hype around the latest superhero blockbuster, here are the headlines that caught our eye this week.

Film

Strained family relationships are something that most of us can relate to. But has it ever turned supernaturally scary? Sony Picture’s new horror film, Umma, aims to explore the sometimes literal ghosts of our pasts. As the tagline says, there is nothing scarier than becoming your mother. Umma stars Sandra Oh and is written and directed by Iris K. Shim, with Sam Raimi and Zainab Azizi producing. Umma hits cinemas starting March 18.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have Bullet Train, a delirious action-thriller from David Leitch, director of Deadpool 2. Brad Pitt heads up an ensemble cast of eclectic, diverse assassins – all with connected yet conflicting objectives – set against the backdrop of a non-stop ride through modern-day Japan. The trailer is honestly wild.

Witness him! One small piece of movie casting news is that leading man Chris Hemsworth is reportedly set to play against type in Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa. Hemsworth will be the antagonist to Anya Taylor-Joy’s fledgling Imperator (replacing Charlize Theron) in the post-Apocalyptic Australian wasteland. Like other films in the Mad Max series, Furiosa will be written and directed by George Miller, and is currently set for a May 2024 release. More here.

Television

He’s back, baby! After contract negotiations previously stalled, John DiMaggio has confirmed that he is officially rejoined the cast of the latest Futurama revival. The voice of fan-favourite Bender (among others) didn’t address how his complaints had been addressed, only that #Bendergate is over. You can read DiMaggio’s full statement on Variety.

Something else to look forward to, though it’s going to take a while yet, is Netflix greenlighting an adaptation of Si Spencer’s mind-bending 2015 limited comic series, Bodies, which was published under the prestigious Vertigo banner. In Bodies, four detectives in four different London eras, from the 1890s through to 2050, find themselves investigating the same murder. Created by writer Paul Tomalin (Torchwood), Bodies will be a British original crime-thriller. Deadline has the scoop.

Gaming

Next to the Game Awards, the BAFTA Games Awards (AKA the British Academy Games Awards) are some of the most high-profile, and arguably most prestigious, accolades in the gaming industry. The 2022 nominees, across 16 categories, were announced yesterday, with strong showings for Returnal, Deathloop, The Artful Escape, Life is Strange: True Colors, Psychonauts 2, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Chicory, and Ratchet and Clank. Read the full list here.

The 2022 BAFTA Games Awards ceremony will be livestreamed on social media on 7 April.

Comics and Books

If George R. R. Martin is known as the slowest author in existence, then Brandon Sanderson must be the fastest. Out of nowhere, Sanderson announced that he secretly wrote four novels over the last two years and launched a Kickstarter campaign to distribute them to fans. Backers of Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson will have a “Year of Sanderson”, with the four books (three of which are set in Cosmere) and swag boxes dropping throughout 2023. Unsurprisingly, the Kickstarter reached over US$15 million on launch day, smashing its US$1,000,000 goal, and will no doubt continue to rake in the cash.

As part of a three-year first-look deal with Blumhouse, actress and writer Jamie Lee Curtis is about to add director to her skillset with her debut feature film, Mother Nature. Why is this under Comics and Books, you ask? Well, Curtis isn’t stopping at just “director”, she has also teamed up with Titan Comics to publish her first-ever graphic novel as well, based on the eco-horror film.

The plot (which Curtis has been kicking around since she was 19): Nova Terrell who, after witnessing her father die in mysterious circumstances on one of the Cobalt Corporation’s experimental oil extraction projects, has grown up to despise the seemingly benevolent company that the town of Catch Creek, New Mexico, relies on for its jobs and prosperity. The rebellious Nova wages a campaign of sabotage and vandalism against the oil giant, until one night she accidentally makes a terrifying discovery about the true nature of the “Mother Nature” project and the long-dormant, vengeful entity it has awakened that threatens to destroy them all.

Mother Nature is co-written by Russell Goldman with art by Karl Stevens. The climate crisis-centred comic is launching in Q3 of 2022, but you can check out some more of the interior art on Bloody-Disgusting.com.